R 201032Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY MBABANE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3402
INFO USMISSION GENEVA

UNCLAS MBABANE 000018 
 
 
DOL/ILAB T FOR TINA MCCARTER 
DRL/ILCSR FOR TU DANG 
 
E.O. 12958 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID WZ
SUBJECT:  SWAZILAND: UPDATE ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR IN 
SWAZILAND 
 
REF:  08 STATE 00127448 
 
¶A.   LAWS AND REGULATIONS PROSCRIBING THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD 
LABOR 
 
The Employment Act of 1980 regulates child labor in Swaziland.  The 
country has three age categories: a child is under 15, a young 
person is 15-17, and an adult is18 and over.  The Employment Act of 
1980 stipulates 15 years old as the minimum age for admission to 
commercial work.  The act states that no one under 18 may be 
employed at night in any undertaking, except for the purposes of 
apprenticeship or vocational training approved by the Minister 
responsible for labor.  Employment of a child and a young person in 
places where alcohol is sold, places where their morals may be 
impaired, and in dangerous or unhealthy places, is prohibited. 
Forced labor, defined as any involuntary work or services carried 
out under threat of penalty, is also prohibited, but this excludes 
compulsory military work in terms of military law, work done in 
cases of emergency, and communal service work done for the benefit 
of the community. 
 
No laws have been promulgated on the worst forms of child labor, 
such as forced child labor and trafficking or child prostitution and 
pornography. 
 
The Employment Act does not address or specify what types of work 
are considered to be worst forms of child labor. 
 
The minimum age for military recruitment is 18 years. 
 
Swaziland has ratified ILO Convention 182, but has not developed a 
list of occupations considered to be worst forms of child labor 
practices as called for in Article 4 of the Convention. 
 
¶B.  REGULATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF PROSCRIPTIONS 
AGAINST THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
Government agencies use standard criminal laws to prosecute matters 
related to child labor and worst forms of labor practices.  The 
courts have discretionary powers in deciding what remedies or 
penalties to be imposed in respect to Employment Act violations. 
 
The Labor Department has no special resources devoted to 
investigations related to the worst forms of child labor. 
 
No officials are specifically designated to deal with child labor 
issues. The GKOS has a small inspection team, responsible for all 
aspects of labor violations, leaving the office with little 
resources to devote to child labor investigations and worst forms of 
child labor. 
 
No police officers or other law enforcement officials are dedicated 
to deal with worst forms of child labor issues. 
 
In the past year no cases of child labor or worst forms of child 
labor were investigated. 
 
The Labor Department's Program Advisory Committee on Child Labor is 
devoted to developing a policy to address child labor and the worst 
forms of child labor. The committee was created as part of two U.S. 
Department of Labor (USDOL) funded programs, through the 
International Labor Organization's International Program on the 
Elimination of Child Labor (ILO/IPEC): the Time-Bound Program to 
Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor (TECL) and the Southern 
Africa regional child labor project Reducing Exploitive Child Labor 
through Education in Southern Africa (RECLISA).  Both programs 
included awareness raising and training activities. Meetings were 
held in various constituencies countrywide with the community 
leaders, including chiefs, sensitizing communities about worst forms 
of child labor.  Both programs ended in June 2008. 
 
¶C.  SOCIAL PROGRAMS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO PREVENT AND WITHDRAW 
CHILDREN FROM THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
The RECLISA program was designed to prevent and withdraw children 
from the worst forms of child labor.  All children that were 
previously funded by the USDOL are now fully sponsored by the 
government of Swaziland. 
 
¶D.  COMPREHENSIVE POLICY AIMED AT THE ELIMINATION OF THE WORST FORMS 
OF CHILD LABOR 
 
There is no comprehensive policy. The TECL and RECLISA program 
created a draft Action Program of the Elimination of Child Labor 
(APEC).  It has not been presented to cabinet for approval. 
 
Child labor is not specifically incorporated into social policies. 
 
The constitution mandates free primary education by 2009, but the 
government has postponed it for budgetary reasons to 2010.  The 
Ministry of Education does provide free textbooks at the primary 
school level and it receives an annual budget allocation to pay 
school fees for orphan and vulnerable children in primary and high 
school, but schools complain that not all the funds reach them as 
planned. 
 
Education is not compulsory in law or in practice. 
 
¶E.  COUNTRY'S CONTINUAL PROGRESS TOWARDS ELIMINATING THE WORST FORMS 
OF CHILD LABOR 
 
In the rural areas, child labor is mostly employed in the 
agricultural and forestry industries, in the planting and cutting of 
sugar cane, cotton picking and boys herding livestock.  In urban 
areas, girls are employed primarily in the domestic industry, where 
they serve as babysitters and housekeepers while parents are at 
work.  This has not changed over the past year. 
 
¶F. SOURCES 
 
The results of the TECL study, the RECLISA study, and the draft APEC 
have not been made publicly available. Post would welcome closer 
communication from USDOL and ILO/IPEC in order to be informed of the 
impact of programs conducted in Swaziland, and areas where we might 
be of assistance. 
 
 
PARKER